The joint venture’s latest move is to release The Founding of a Party, a film that celebrates the 90th birth anniversary of the Communist Party of China. It will be screened in North America on June 17, the first Friday after its China premiere on June 15.

From Wong Kar Wai’s “Days of Being Wild” to Jia Zhangke’s “Unknown Pleasures” and beyond, more than 20 years of aimless Asian youth running amok has lapsed into cinematic cliche. But “Buddha Mountain” finds a narrative drive that still keeps faith with the youthful alienation it’s exploring.

China Lion Film Distribution has struck an exclusive deal with New Video, a North American entertainment distributor and digital content aggregator.

Aiming to handle some 15 Chinese-language films per year, with many of them day-and-date releases with mainland China, China Lion will next distribute the Jin Chen-directed The Warring States on 22 April.

Sun Honglei

Sun Honglei described Warring States as costumed version of Lurk, his hit TV series about spies costarring Yao Chen. (Sina)

Director Hou Liang previewed a 20-minute trailer of Deadly Will yesterday in Beijing.

In 1999, To [Yuhang] became the youngest person in Hong Kong to win the World Wushu Championships at age 18…Find out more about Dennis To’s life after Ip Man, and meet Hong Kong’s latest gongfu babe… former Olympic champion Liu Xuan, Hong Kong’s latest addition to its slew of gongfu babes, about her transition from gymnastics to acting. She plays the wife of martial arts hero Wong Fei Hong in TVB drama Grace Under Fire (2011). (RazorTV)

Soft porn in 3D leaves us with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. The wholesome kind

It’s all naughty good fun and there isn’t a single boring scene. From the moment the first pair of jiggly 3D breasts appears — prompting the male audience members to collectively gasp — through to the fight scenes with 3D daggers thrown at the audience, this is 3D movie magic at its low-brow erotic best.

Feng Xiaogang is in Chongqing to prepare for his upcoming film (Wen Gu 1942). Shu Qi, Betty Sun Li and Jiang Wenli are expected to be joining the cast. Feng visited the General Stillwell Museum, the general’s war time residence in Chongqing. He also inspected the Botanical Gardens and the many old foreign embassy buildings. (Sina)

Simon Yam’s latest film is generating online controversy. With the release of The Man Behind the Courtyard House, netizens are posting opinions such as this one, “[The film] tests the water is too bold for the first time, many areas are not in line with the habit of domestic films, including the shooting style, narrative structure of these macro aspects people have to try to figure out viewing the process of reasoning. And although the plot of the film, after carefully pondering the idea is reasonable, but somewhat incompatible with the logic of ordinary people.”

However, there are opposite views too, “the film has a lot of innovation, whether temporarily or not mature, this spirit to be encouraged. And the innovative effects of the film did not live up to the expectations of the audience, the kind of shock is very enjoyable audio-visual stimulation. especially the large-scale plot is very hot, they can bring the audience’s emotions. and the film itself is able to mobilize the audience thinking, along with the advancement of all branches of the film appears interwoven stories, characters relations are complicated, the vital need for the audience slowly into the role of scrutiny, is a test of logical reasoning ability is also a kind of exercise. you can say [Courtyard] is the rare movie IQ. “ (Sina)

More than a hundred Hong Kong celebrities will come together on 1 April at a Jackie Chan-organised charity concert in a bid to raise donations for the earthquake, tsunami and radiation relief efforts in Japan, according to Chinese media reports.

Taiwan media in particular criticised Hsu for her perceived favouritism towards the Chinese media and even speculated that she had been bribed, resulting in a call among Taiwan media outlets to shut her out of the Taiwan media completely.

Xu Tong’s 157-minute docu concerns a badly crippled fortuneteller with a severely impaired wife, driven from pillar to post by police crackdowns. If the central figure, Li Baicheng, were any less oddly charismatic, the film might register only as an exhaustive case history on the marginalization of the poor and disabled under Chinese capitalism. Yet Li maintains a remarkable level of equanimity, as Xu’s camera becomes a kind of companion to whom he confides his thoughts.

Stylish “The Piano in a Factory” offers fitful entertainment value but little narrative cohesion or momentum, playing like a series of disconnected setpieces in search of context. Chinese writer-director Zhang Meng’s sophomore feature (following 2007’s “Lucky Dog”) centers on a humble musician’s attempt to hold onto his music-prodigy daughter by securing her a piano by hook or by crook. Melancholic comedy demonstrates considerable flair for camera movement and use of music, but is too fragmentary to realize its crowdpleasing goal. Film Movement plans a limited U.S. theatrical run this summer, simultaneous with VOD release.

TVB favorite and multi-hyphenate Eric Tsang is producing four titles, including cop thriller Fatal Connections with director Herman Yau, the first among the titles to go into production. He will also produce The Three Wise Guys, a Chinese vampire academy comedy for this summer where he reunites with his I Love HK director Chung Shue-kai; Jiang-hu Yi (tentative title), an original epic about Hong Kong triads before the handover in 1997, with director Daniel Chan; and Hunt for Love, co-directing with his protégé Heiward Mak on the original story by media personality/writerMichelle Lo…

Only some six months back Chinese films began getting day-and-date releases in North America thanks to the establishment of a new distribution concern China Lion Films and the participation of AMC, the US’s second largest film exhibition group.

A document found by the media revealed that Zhou Dongyu was born in 1991, not 1992 as listed on her blog. (Xinhua) Zhou Dongyu is reportedly signed to Stanley Kwan’s My Kingdom. Fan Bingbing had been considered earlier but deemed not a good match for the character. (Sina)

At an appearance in Shanghai for HSBC, Zhao Wei said that she would work on her delayed graduate film for Beijing Film Academy in September after finishing Painted Skin 2 and Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains. (Xinhua), (Xinhua-gallery)

The Man Behind the Courtyard House starring Simon Yam has been toned down for both sexy and violent scenes prior to its release according to a media report. The film was previewed yesterday in Guangzhou. Pre-release publicity teased a suspenseful thriller and bloody violence, including Simon Yam committing homicide by hammering a nail into a man’s brain. The film has spent four months in review and revision and the end result left the crew surprised. Also, a Cantonese version is planned for release in Guangdong area audiences. (21cn), (Sina), 2

Director Huang Jianxin, in an interview at Filmart, denied earlier reports that all of Tang Wei’s scenes had been deleted from The Founding of a Party. He admitted that many scenes were cut to get the 3 hour film down to 2 hours. (Sina)

“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” is part of [Johnnie] To’s recent push into the mainland Chinese market with blander fare than his signature crime thrillers, which are often too violent or gritty to pass mainland censorship. But the movie’s story of a playboy Hong Kong trader and an earnest Canadian-Chinese architect pulling all stops to win the heart of a mainland Chinese financial analyst reads like political commentary on China’s growing geopolitical clout.

To didn’t attend Sunday’s opening ceremony, but his co-director denied any political overtones in the movie.

October’s “Aftershock,” about a devastating 1976 earthquake, was one of the highest-grossing films ever in mainland China but brought in just $61,000 in limited North American release. In December, “If You Are the One 2″ grossed a respectable $427,000, while the Chinese remake of “What Women Want” sold about $130,000 of tickets in February. The movies all premiered in about two dozen theaters.

Making its world premiere at HKIFF is Hong Kong filmmaker Poon Yuen-leung’s Hi, Fidelity, which follows the sexual exploits of three spurned Hong Kong housewives who cross the border to China, only to discover they’ve all fallen for the same gigolo. The film will likely be a big draw because it marks the comeback of iconic Hong Kong actress Patricia Ha (An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty), who makes her first appearance onscreen in eight years.THR: Everything You Need to Know to Survive Filmart

THR’s guide to Asia’s largest film market

3D Sex and Zen

3D doesn’t get more rousing than 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, a stereoscopic reinterpretation of an erotic Chinese novel, repped by One Dollar Distribution. The film occupies its own booth at Filmart 2011, with an invitation-only market screening of the full 3D version off-site on March 22.

Kung Fu Panda 2, which adds the voice of Pan-Asian superstar Michelle Yeoh to a cast that brings back Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu, is all but certain to be released in China on May 26, simultaneous with its North American debut.